A Journey Never Begun Pt. 06

"After she was done jumping up and down and jiggling, she said, 'I was so hoping you would say that. I have something that I need a human to fetch. It is hurting me terribly.'

"I looked at her, trying to keep looking at her eyes and told her, 'If it possible for me to get this object for you, I will. Please tell me where to find it and I will be off to get it.'

"At that she clapped her hands and said, 'I can do better than tell you.'

"Before I knew it or could say anything, she had scooped me up and tucked me under her arm. Before I could even scream, she walked out over the ledge and started walking down the face of the mountain.

"It did not take long and we were well down the mountain. The trail that I took getting up the mountain took me almost two full days to walk up. We covered that same distance in mere minutes. A few minutes more and we were standing near a great pit. Trees near the pit had been knocked down as if blown down by a tremendous wind. I found myself hoping that there had not been any tree nymphs living in those trees.

"When we reached the edge of the pit, my earth nymph set me down and said, 'This is as far as I can go. In the bottom of the pit is a large chunk of sky metal. It crashed here many days ago and it is hurting my mountain. I cannot touch it even though it poisons my home. But you can touch it and take it with you. Please help me as you promised.'

"I looked at the tears in her eyes and told her, 'I will try to find this sky metal rock of yours and if I can find it, I will take it with me.' Upon hearing that she again began to jump up and down and clap her hands. I had a strong urge to pull my manhood out and relieve myself. She was very beautiful.

"But I did not. I climbed into the pit and began shoving rocks around until I found a large shiny stone. It must have weighed almost 100 pounds. I am not sure I would have known what to do if it had been any larger. It was too large for my biggest bag of holding to go around it. So I pulled on it and it came free as if the earth was trying to push it out. I picked it up and manhandled it up to the top of the crater. When I dropped it, the shiny stone began to roll downhill. I started running after it, but it kept rolling faster and I lost sight of it.

"When I stopped to catch my breath, the earth nymph appeared in front of me. She was gigantic, at least 15 feet tall. She picked me up and held me to her bosom, singing, 'Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.'

"She kissed my forehead and again I felt the mana swell. She then shrank back down to the size of a young lady and I landed on my feet. I looked at her eyes and the dirt brown eyes began to change into a mix of gold and glittering colors like an opal. Her voice became deeper and she spoke,

"While Good prevails does Evil sleep,

against all odds the Child does creep.

Far below where nothing dwells,

Save visions of the boiling hells.

A sacrifice it seems gone wrong,

Wakes the Evil and makes it strong."

A sound made Muddle looked down in time to see his grimoire open on the floor of the house and his quill writing the words of the oread between the words of the dryad and the first words that were spoken by his wife.

Once again, the writing was more ornate than his hand and as before, once the words were inscribed, the quill lay back down and the book closed. "Odd," Muddle thought, "that doesn't even seem strange anymore."

He was brought back to the present when his familiar croaked out, "Re-deep! ('More story')!"

Muddle looked over and said, "Yes. There is more to the story.

"After the oread, or earth nymph, said those words, her eyes returned to their normal color. She curtseyed and said, 'I am in your debt kind sir. The vision of the old ones told me that you know how to work metals such as the sky metal, but it takes a special kind of fire to get hot enough to work it. Come with me,' and she picked me up again.

"I do not know how far we went but we went faster than a horse could run. When we stopped there was a split in the mountain and on the side of the split there was a seam of black rock. She reached her hand in and pulled out enough of the black rock to fill a cart. She did this several times and then she formed it into a very large ball.

"With that complete, she picked me up again and carried me under one arm and the ball of black rock in the other. We headed off in a different direction and before I could get my bearings, she stopped at the clearing of the mine camp. As she set the ball and me down, she said, 'This is as far as I can go. The mountain ahead is the home of my sister. It was she who buried the men who had been digging in her domain without permission. They did not head her warnings and finally she shifted the ground to close the hole they had dug. It was only later that she found out that they had been in the hole. I know she feels badly about it, but they did not listen to her and so paid the price.'

"I looked at her and said, 'I'm sorry for the damage that the men did to your sister. I am sure that had there been another way she would have found it.'

"She nodded and then said, 'Go and get one of those wheeled man things so I can take you to retrieve the sky metal. I will wait for you here.'

"I ran off and got a cart and hurried back. She picked up the cart and me and set us down within sight of the lump of sky metal. 'I can go no closer,' she said. "Please take the sky metal and do what must be done, Child of Destiny.' And with that she was gone. I never did know her name.

"I took the cart and loaded the sky metal into it. Taking my bearings I headed off in the general direction of the mining camp. Two very long and tiring days later I reached the camp. Dumping the sky metal on the ground near the blacksmith shop, I turned and taking the cart went to load the black rock.

"It took several hours to move that near the shop. First I had to break it apart and then move it cart load by cart load to a pile next to the shop.

"When I was done, I was hot and tired and dirty and I went off to the stream to wash up. When I came back I unrolled my bedroll on the floor of the house I was using and slept the sleep of the dead. I was awakened at first light by a wonderful dream and the feeling of spilling my seed in my trousers. All the visions of nymphs had coalesced into one intense dream and I had made a mess of myself. Sighing, I got up and went back to the stream to wash and do some laundry.

"Once I got done, I went to the forge and cleaned the ashes out and got ready to try to burn the black rock. I knew nothing about how to do this, so I tried what I do with wood. I took some small pieces and put them down below and put large pieces to the side. I called up fire and set it loose on the small pieces. I was surprised at how hot they got. I put a few larger pieces in and soon there was a very hot fire going in the forge. I took a chisel and a medium hammer out to the piece of sky metal and was able to break a piece off.

"The piece was larger than I needed for hinges but it would work well for a dagger. So I decided to practice.

"I threw the sky metal on the forge and set to work with the bellows. Soon the fire was white hot and I was sweating and wet as if it was raining inside. But I could see the metal was starting to glow.

"With that, I started my long fight to craft a dagger. I would heat the sky metal until it glowed red hot then pound it on the anvil with the largest hammer until I had shaped it a little. Then it went back in the forge and I worked the bellows again. By the end of the day, I had the rough shape of a dagger and an aching back and an arm that wouldn't lift the hammer any more.

"Banking the coals I staggered to the stream to wash. A splash and a giggle were all the warning I had before I was rudely pulled into the water. Fortunately the stream was very shallow so I was able to gain my feet and stood up waist deep in the water.

"Another giggle preceded my legs being pulled out from under me. By now I knew that I had a playful naiad on my hands. I kept my head above water and struck out of the shore.

"Once on shore, I knew I had to placate the naiad or my life would be a living hell. Backing away from the edge of the stream, I called out, 'Lady of the stream, I beg your pardon for intruding without asking your permission. I have called out to you before and got no answer. I mistakenly believed that this was a stream without a guardian and I apologize to you for my rude behavior.'

"I heard another giggle and braced myself for another attack. Instead I saw a young lady begin to rise out of the water. I could see that she was not really a lady because it was only at the surface of the water that she became visible. Below her form, I could see the bottom of the stream as if there was no part of her below the surface.

"She giggled again and said in a very pleasing tone, 'I know you have asked permission wizardling. That was why I was just teasing you just now. I was far downstream when I heard you saying the words of greeting. I decided I would come to see who was so polite that they still used the old words.'

"She was beautiful as all naiad were. I could feel stirrings that I ignored. I asked, 'My lady, if it is not impolite, may I ask your name, so that I may address you properly?'

"She looked pleased and said, 'I am known by many names. Far to the south I am Silverest, in the high plains I am known as Pilesti and here in the mountains, I have no name.'

"'My lady,' I said, "those are the names of rivers and streams, I would like to know your name so that I may address you, not some river or stream.'

"She became quiet and looked at me and I felt I was being judged. Finally she said softly, 'Zeudle'.

"I paused for a second then spoke, "Thank you my lady for the trust you place in me. If it pleases you, I will not use your true name. Instead, because of the beauty of this place and the way the water sparkles as if flows, may I call you Sparkle?'

"She clapped her hands and giggled. 'Oh, yes! That is a perfect name for me Muddle.'

"It was my turn to be shocked. I stammered out, 'You know me?'

"She giggled again and then said, 'Oh yes. I was there when you healed the tinker and his daughter. I made sure the water they took from my stream was pure and safe. She is a child of destiny and has many great things to do.'

"Questions piled up in my head about what she had just said but all I managed to get out through my chattering teeth was, 'Lady Sparkle, I must take my leave of you. It is getting dark and cold and thanks to your helping me wash up, I am wet and cold. In the future, I will try very hard not to forget to be polite and ask before I take advantage of your waters.'

"She giggled and turned to dive into the waters. I took that to mean the conversation was at an end and I walked back to camp, dripping and cold."

Muddle stood and stretched, then addressed the frog, "Mr. Frog, I think that is enough for tonight. I am tired and I will have a busy day tomorrow putting glass in these windows. So I am going to bid you good night and I will see you tomorrow."

The frog blinked his eyes slowly and let out a low, "Re-deep! ('Good night Master')," before hopping down from the table and heading for the door.

Muddle chuckled to himself and then lay down on his bedroll in front of the fireplace. He was asleep almost immediately.

So ends the sixth part of A Journey Never Begun.